Rosendale Councilman Robert Ryan takes heat for attending party in blackface, says he meant no offense

LEFT: A Facebook photo shows Rosendale Councilman Robert Ryan in blackface, dressed as rapper Flavor Flav, at a Halloween party last month. RIGHT: A photo of Ryan that was supplied to the Freeman when he ran for a Town Board seat in 2011

ROSENDALE, N.Y. -- The use of blackface by town Councilman Robert Ryan at a private Halloween and birthday party at the American Legion Hall in Tillson has drawn sharp criticism from a town employee and the leader of a local civil rights organization.

Ryan said he intended no disrespect to black people when he dressed as rapper Flavor Flav for the Oct. 26 event.

He said the VH-1 show "The Surreal Life," on which Flav appeared in 2004 and 2005, provided the inspiration for the costume.

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"I used to watch a show all the time with Brigitte (Nielsen), the one Sylvester Stallone was married to," Ryan said. "I enjoyed the show. I thought (Flavor Flav) was a very unique kind of a character, and then, I just read about him the other day." Nielsen, who was on "The Surreal Life" at the same time as Flav, has been romantically involved with the rapper, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr.

Ryan added that "when you wear a clock and you dress like that, you don't have to explain who you're dressing up as." Flav often wears a large clock around his neck like a piece of jewelry.

Michael Caponero, a Rosendale Town Court officer, said he was disturbed when he saw a photograph of Ryan, a Republican, at the party.

Caponero said Republicans have struggled to gain trust among voters who are not white. He said the Ryan matter is similar to how U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, who lost this week's Missouri race for a U.S. Senate seat, hurt Republicans, especially among women, with his statement that "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy.

"Republicans have bad enough names already (with statements) about rapists," said Caponero, who characterized himself as "a lifelong Republican."

"Here, (Ryan) is dressed up in blackface," Caponero said. "That's all we need."

Caponero acknowledges having a heated history with Ryan that began at a July meeting of the Town Board with a request to have the town deal with a trailer on a neighboring property.

Then, at an October meetitng, Caponero said, Ryan, in the course of a discussion about a pay raise sought for court offficers, made what Caponeor considered inflammatory comments about his July appearance over the trailer issue.

"In this day and age, his comments about (my) coming (to a Town Board meeting) with guns drawn is inflammatory and dangerous ... and his statement that I should wear a bulletproof vest at all times is threatening," he said.

Maude Bruce, president of the Ellenville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Ryan's use of blackface was racist and that she planned to call him to learn more about his intent.

"I think it was inappropriate, no sensitivity, and I want to know what is he suggesting," she said. "As a councilman for Rosendale, I think it's totally inappropriate because he represents all people there."

Bruce said the photograph of Ryan in blackface was a reminder of what people fought against during the civil rights movement more than 50 years ago.

"I was raised in the South. ... I marched with Martin Luther King," she said. "When I saw that picture, it brought back so many memories of people doing it. Why would a white man want to paint his face black?"

Ryan, who was elected to a four-year term on the Town Board in 2011, said it was disappointing that anyone would "make a racial thing out of this."

"I have so many black friends who would stand up for me in a heartbeat," he said.

Ryan, 53, a plant manager for the state Department of Correctional Services, said the photographs were posted on a Facebook page maintained by his sister-in-law, along with several other pictures from the party.

"Why anybody is digging so deep to think that would be offensive by someone I choose to dress up as, I would think that maybe they were discriminating themselves," he said.

"If I thought that there was anything awkward or crazy about it or stupid or vindictive or discriminating, as an elected official, do you really think I would have dressed up as Flavor Flav?" Ryan said.

Editor's note: This story was modified 05:21 AM 11-11-12 to correct the sequence of events regarding Caponeros's account of his interaction with Ryan at Town Board meetings in July and October.